Jews in international contemporary art

Many artists of Jewish origin have played a major role in the art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, at the crossroads of formal modernity, Memory, and identity. Painters such as Marc Chagall, whose work is imbued with the imagery of the shtetl, and Amedeo Modigliani, a figure of the École de Paris, are among the most significant artists of the first half of the twentieth century. The American sculptor Louise Nevelson and many others extended this presence in postwar and contemporary art. Their work raises the debated question of the existence of a specific "Jewish aesthetic," beyond the great diversity of trajectories and styles. It also invites reflection on the links between artistic creation, diasporic experience, and the transmission of a collective Memory.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan
• Jewish Virtual Library ↗